This is a presentation of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in cases decided in 2010 and 2011 involving questions touching on private international law. The selection includes the following themes: Choice of law rules and the right to non-discrimination. – The right to recognition of a status acquired abroad. – International child abduction and the right to family life.

As a general matter, it is worth recalling that the task of the Court is not to review domestic law in abstracto, but to determine whether the manner in which it was applied to the applicant has infringed the Convention. This means that private international law cases that come before the Court will be dealt with in a refreshingly, or irritatingly – depending on the preferences of the reader –, undogmatic manner: the most subtle rules of private international law, and the most learned judgments of the national courts on the applicant’s case, will be nothing more than facts, the effects of which on the applicant’s human rights are the Court’s sole concern.

The paper was published in the last volume of the Yearbook of Private International Law.